Method for automatically doffing cops in a ring spinner

ABSTRACT

Method for automatic cop doffing in a ring spinner. According to the method, it is provided to grip the reels or cops by pliers carried by a spinner doffing device, adjacent the bottom end thereof to clamp the last coils of wound up yarn; to lift the reels or cops by a distance sufficient to tear the yarn and place a reel again on its associated spindle; then to grip the reels or cops at a higher location than the former, lifting such reels or cops to be unthreaded from the spindles and to complete the doffing operations for replacement with spools.

United States Patent 1191 111 3,813,870 [451 June 4, 1974 Viglione [54]METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY 3,350,868 11/1967 Winter 57/52 v DOFFING COPSIN A RING SPINNER 2,952,113 9/1960 Ingham 1 57/52 2.612.744 10/1952Christianson 57/52 Inventor: Giovanni Viglione, Genova-Sestri,

Italy Assignee: Nuova San Giorgio S. p. A., I

Genova-Sestri, ltaly Filed: Mar. 29, 1973 Appl. M0,: 345,833

Int. Cl D0lh 9/00, DOlh 9/02, DOlh 9/08 Field of Search 57/] R, 34 R,52, 53, 54,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1970 Marenco 57 52 Chiari etal. 57/52 Primary Examiner-Donald E. Watkins [5 7] ABSTRACT and tocomplete the doffing operations for replacev 'ment with spools.

5 Claims/4 Drawing Figures METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY DOFFING CO IN A RINGSPINNER This invention generally relatesto ring spinners, and moreparticularly to a method for automatically doffing cops and replacingthe cops with new spools.

From a previous patent to the same assignee of this patent application,an automatic spinner is known as provided with a device forautomatically doffing cops, the device substantially comprising amovable plierscarrying bar located on one side of the spinner at thespindle-carrying frame, which pliers-carrying bar is provided with aplurality of pliers suitable to grip the cops and spools. Saidpliers-carrying bar is movable vertically and horizontally supportedbetween a lower position thereof underlying the spindle-carrying frameand an 'upper position thereof overlying said frame through anarticulated framework carried by structure horizontally slidable alongsuitable guide means, said framework and supporting structure beingdriven to provide for lifting and lowering the pliers-carrying bar andtransversing thereof, as above stated.

In accordance with the apparatusas proposed in the above mentionedpatent, and according to'its'operation as provided therein, afterforming a thread supply'on each of the spindles prior to stoppagethereof, under the yarn winding spool, and after the ring and yarnguiding loop overturning, thespindle gripping pliers,

would clamp each cop at the top end of the cylindrical '7 portionfor'doffing from the spindle and depositing on a corresponding pin of acontinuous conveyor underlying the frame and providing for. removing thecops'and supplying the new spools which, when placed on the spindlespreviously cleared off, would serve to wind up a further cop. However,the method as used with the device according to the previous patentcanbe conveniently used where cotton and/or'low stretch yarns areconcerned. In case of wool, or synthetic, or long fiber and generallyhigh stretch and tensile stress yarns, upon the yarn break there wouldoccur disadvantages that can be overcome by the doffing method accordingto the present invention. I I

According to the method as provided for by the apparatus disclosed inthe previous patent, each of the pliers would clamp the correspondingcop at atop position such that the last yarn coils wound on the copperiphery between the pliers and the supply formed at a suitablelocation on the spindle have an undue extension and such that atdoffing, where the yarn should be highly resistant and have a highstretch, said coils can wind up, stretch and finally break, leavingayarn tail of such a length to interfer at the next spinning resumptionstep with the thread length supplied by the spinner to be wound up onthe new spool.

Where highly resistant or high stretch yarns are conply formed on thespindle, so as to provide a minimum yarn stretch, also making itimpossible for the coils to unthread from the cop'. In this case, theyarn break at any location in the length between the pliers and supplywill always leave a short yarn tail, such as not to interfer with thenew thread being supplied at the time of spinning resumption.

Particularly, the method for automatically doffing the cops in such aspinner having a plurality of pliers for gripping the cops and yarnwinding spools, said pliers being mounted to a pliers-carrying rod orbar laterally of the spinner and movably vertically and horizontallysupported between a bottom position thereof at a conveyor belt forfeeding the spools and unloading. the

cerned, this disadvantage may occur on a very high per-.

centage of spindles (spinners having up to 2 Q9 spindles and more areavailable), so that a loss of time would result for the need ofemploying special operator teams for joining the broken threadstogether, which loss of time can often become unacceptable for a regulareconomical operation of the spinner.

This disadvantage is overcome by the cop doffing method according to thepresent invention, which method provides to reduce the extension for thecoil or coils between the cop clamping pliers and the yarn sup.-

.cops and at least one position at the top of the spindlecarrying framefor said yarn, comprise the steps of moving the pliers in saidpliers-carrying bar to a top position thereof; to grip the cops at alocation corresponding to or adjacent the lower end of the associatedspool;

to close the pliers to grip the cops by firmly pressing the last coil orcoils of wound up yarn; to lift the cops by a-distance sufficient totear the yarn in the length between the cop gripping location anda yarnsupply previously wound up on the spindle beneath the spool;and. finallyto doff the cops from the spindles, replacing the same with spools forthe next spinning resumption.

, Although in the specific embodiment hereinafter disclosed for anapparatus suitable to practice in the present method, the pliers are ofa pneumatic character and carried by pairs to separately grip one copand one spool, respectively, it should be understood that such pneumaticpliers could be as well replaced with pliers of any other type, such-asmechanical pliers, without any change to the novel principle of thepresent method that canby anyhow practiced. Additionally, in somepresently used spinners over the frame the available room isinsufficient fordoffing a cop,'gripping it by the pliers at its bottomend. Therefore, an intermediate step is provided where the cop,following the yarn break, is placed again on the spindle, the pliers arecarry out the method according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic fragmentary side view of the spinner shown in FIG.1; and

FIGS. 3 and 4 are enlarged views showing two subsequent steps in doffinga cop as provided by the method according to the invention.

Referring to FIGS. land 2, a short description will now begiven of theconstruction of the doffing device suitable to carry out the methodaccording to the invention, as said device is not an essential part ofthe invention, but replaceable by any other type of devices.

As it will be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein a spinner 10 has beendiagrammatically shown omitting to show those parts of the spinner notessential for fully understanding the invention, it will be seen thatsaid spinner 3 has on two opposing sides spindle-carrying frames 11cantilever projecting and supporting a plurality of spindles l2 suitablyrotatably driven through the belts in a per se well known manner.

For each of the spinner spindle-carrying frames 11 the use iscontemplated of a device for cop doffmg, which, as shown, issubsequently formed of an articulated framework comprising a horizontalbar 13 supporting a plurality of pairs of pliers l4, l5 inwardly facing,of which the external pliers 15 are for gripping the yarn cops 16 on thespinner spindles l2, and the internal pliers 14 are for gripping thespools 17 carried by corresponding pins 18 of a continuous conveyor 19at a bottom position underlying said frame 11. Obviously, saidcontinuous conveyor is controlled to carry the individual' spools 17 toa position in alignment with the gripping pliers.

The pliers-carrying bar 13 is supported for vertically moving between atleast one top position at th'e'spindles 12, as shown on the right-handside of FIG. 1, and a bottom position underlying the frame 11 at saidconveyor, as shown on the left-hand side of FIG. 1, by means of anarticulated'framework, in addition to said bar 13 comprising, in theembodiment shown in FIG. 1, two side rods pivoted at one end thereof tothe plierscarrying-bar l3, andatthe other end thereof to a correspondingblock 23 sliding along suitable horizontal guide means carried by astructure 24 horizontally movable from an inner position underlying thespindlecarrying frame to a second position externally of the spinnerby asufficient distance to avoid any interference of the pliers-carrying bar13 with said frame 11 or other projecting partsof the spinner, as thelatter is upward and downward moved. The two sliding blocks 23 areconnected to the two opposing runs of a chain 23' to control themovement thereof in the opposite directions along said guide means. i

This articulated framework supporting structure 24 is driven fromhorizontal movement on suitable guide means by a rack system 25,diagrammatically shown in PK]. 1, which through a pinion 26 is operatedto move by any drive system under the control of a driving shaft for thespinner, or a suitable motor (not shown).

in the exemplary embodiment shown, the pliers 14 and 15 for gripping thespools l7 and cops 16, respectively, are pneumatic pliers comprisinginflatable tubular sleeves clamping the spool and cop, respectively,throughout the'dia meter thereof. However, if desired, said pneumaticpliers could be replaced by mechanical pliers or the like, without anychange in the principle on which the method according to the presentinvention is grounded.

The spinner 10 is also provided with members for feeding and guiding ayarn 27,-which is to be wound up on the reels 16, such as loops 28 andguide rings 29 that can be overturned in per se known manner.

The operation will now be described for said doffingdevice, inaccordance with the general principles of the present method, byconsidering an intermediate step contemplating to grip again the copsafter thread break for doffin'g in spinners having a reduced free roominheight. However, it is to be understood that for spinners v of otherdesigns this intermediate step could be also omitted.

Prior to stopping and when the reels 16 are fully filled, the spindleswill build up at a location underlying the'reel a thread supply 30, asclearly shown in FIGS.

. 4 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings, by winding up two or more yarncoils. Then, said loops 28 and rings 29 are overturned in per se knownmanner for starting the dofiing steps.

Then, the doffing device supporting the plierscarrying bar 13 isoperated and first through an out-' ward horizontal movement thenthrough an upward vertical movement and an inward horizontal movementcarries said bar .13 to a top position where said pliers 15 areoverlying and aligned with the reels 16. Then, by a subsequent downwardvertical movement of said bar 13, the pliers 15 are carried to aposition, shown by solid lines on theright-hand side of FIG. 1 and inFIG. 3, where said pliers 15 are at or adjacent the bottom end of theassociated reels l6-or spools.

Once at this position, the pliers will inflate, where pneumatic pliersare concerned, and generally clamp the reels at said bottom position.Hereinafter the description will proceed for the several doffing steps,reference being had to the pneumatic type of pliers, the operation withpliers of other design being apparent.

After the pliers have gripped the reels 16 at the bottom end thereof andat thelast coil or coils of the wound up yarn as clearly shown in FIG.3, said articulated framework will cause the pliers-carrying bar 13 topartially lift by a distance sufficient to tearthe thread in the lengthbetween the clamping location for the pliers on the reel and said yarnsupply 30.- s

As clearly shown in FIG. 4, by gripping the reel 16 adjacent its bottomend, a reduction is provided in the free thread lenght along which abreak can occur, whereby even though subjected to some stretch as thethread is torn, there is formed at the thread supply 30 a short threadtail 31 (FlG. 4), having the length of a fraction of coil, or at themost one yarn coil. Also the maximum length for said thread tail 31 issuch that said tail is left at a free condition without interferringwith the thread 27 being supplied by the spinner upon spinningresumption. Should the thread tail 31 be longer, as where each ofthepliers 15 would clamp the reel 16 at a top position, said thread tail31 would entangle or interfer with the thread 27, thereby hindering thewinding up thereof on the spool, asshown by dashed lines in FIG. 4'.

By clamping the'reel 16 atits bottom end and at the last coils of wouldup yarn, in addition to reducing the stretch of the thread tail-31 whenbreaking, the thread length subjectable to unthreading from the reel orcop is also made very short. Thus, a ready and reliable yarn break isprovided during doffing operations.

That the thread tail 31 does not interfer with the yarn 27 upon spinningresumption is also because the ringcarrying carriage will move upwards,prior to winding, by a distance of at least 4-5 cm. from the locationwhere said supply 30 is formed, and this in a well known manner.

After the pliers-carrying bar 13 is lifted for a distance sufficient tocause a thread break, as above stated, the upward movement can becontinued to completely unthread the reel 16 from the spindle 12, wherea suffi-- cient height space is available in the spinner, then laterallymoving and subsequently lowering down again to grip the new spools andplace the cops 16 on the pins of the conveyor that have been previouslycleared. Otherwise, should enough space be not available above thespindles, the pliers-carrying bar 13, carried by said articulatedframework, would lower down again to the position shown in FIG. 3,mounting again the reels l6 bar 13, said pliers are moved to anintermediate or top position to grip the reels at a higher location thanthe former, as schematically shown by dashed lines on the right-handside of FIG. 1. The pliers-carrying'bar is then lifted until the bottomof each spool is at a higher level than the associated spindle; thearticulated framework assembly is outwardly moved and finally caused tore-enter over the conveyor belt until the axis of each pliers 14 for thespools is coincident with the axis of the spools 17 carried by thecorresponding pins 18 of said conveyor. The bar 13 further, movesdownward by a short distance until the pliers are at about twothirds ofthe level of the associatedspools. Thepliers l5 inflategripping thespools and the system repeats the opposite movements to bring the spoolsover the spindles, threading such spools thereon. During thesemovements, the pliers l5 always hold the associated cops or reels at agripped condition. I

Once the pliers have been loosened and have released the spools on thespindles, the pliers are moved away form the spools and thepliers-carrying bar 13 is again moved back to its bottom positionunderlying the frame 11 to carry the cops on the conveyor belt 19, whichis then operated to feed and unload said cops into a proper container atone end of the spinner. At this time, the spinning and winding upoperations for the yarn 27 on the spools has already been resumed.

It should be understood that the foregoing, as referred to a doffingapparatus according to the specific embodiment shown inthe accompanyingdrawings, is not to be intended as a limitationfsince the sequence ofthe doffing steps could be other than that herein disclosed whereallowable by the spinner structure and where the position for the reelor cop pliers and for the spool pliers should be reversed or differentfrom that shown. However, in any case the statement should be unalteredto grip the reels 16 by the associated pliers at the bottom end of thereel, or at the closest location as-possible to the bottom end of thespool in order to reduce the thread length along which a break mightoccur, thereby reducing the length of the thread"tail remaining attachedto the supply normally wound up on the spindle, as previously stated.

What is claimed is: l. A method for automatic cop doffing in a spinnerhaving a plurality of pliers for gripping the reels or cops 6 and theyarn winding up spools, said pliers being carried by a plier-carryingbar, vertically-and horizontally movable supported between one .bottomposition thereof adjacent a conveyor belt for feeding the spools andunloading the cops, and at leastone top position relative tothespindle-carrying frame of said spinner,

wherein a provision is made for moving said plierscarrying bar to a topposition with said pliers arranged at a closest location as possible tothebottom end of said cops; clamping the pliers by gripping the cops atthe bottom end thereof firmly pressing the last coils of wound up yarn;lifting the cops by a distance-sufiicient to tear the thread within thelength between the gripping location for one pliers on the cop and athread supply previously wound up on the spindle underlying the spool;and finally doffing the cop from the spindle and replacing it with aspool.

2; A method for automatic cop doffing in a spinner as claimed in claim1, whereinfollowing the thread break step, it is further provided toagain lower the cop, threading it on the associated spindle, to loosenthe pliers grip lifting it by an upward movement of theplierscarr'ying'bar; to grip the cop at a location overlying the former,and then unthread the cop from the spindle for carryingout thesubsequent doffing operations, replacing the cops with the spools.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein use is made of a pneumatictype of pliers.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein use is made of a mechanicaltype of pliers.

5. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein following the yarn break ofeach cop carried by a pliers of the movable bar, it is provided to lowerthe pliers-carrying bar to thread again the cops on the associatedspindles by gripping the same at an overlying location, furthercomprising the steps of unthreading the cops from the spindles by afurther lifting movement of the plierscarrying bar, outwardly laterallymoving it and then lowering it to its bottom position with the pliersfor the spools in alignment therewith, clamping said spools carried bysaid conveyor, and the moving said plierscarrying bar in oppositedirection to the first direction down again said pliers-carrying barstill holding the cops to arrange the latter on said conveyor; the copsbeing then carried, to an end unloading position of the spinner..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No.3,813,870 Dated June 4, 1.974

Inventor) Giovanni viglione It is certified that error appears in theabove-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

Column 6, line 2, change "plier-carrying" to --p1iers-carrying-.

Column 6, line 3, change "movable" to -movably-.

Column 6, line 7, delete "a".

Signed and sealed this 17th day of September 197 (SEAL) Attest:

McCoy M. GIBSON JR. c. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner ofPatents FORM FO-1OSO (10-69) v USCOMM DC 60376 P69 n u.s GOVERNMENTPRINTING OFFICE: I969 o-ass-au

1. A method for automatic cop doffing in a spinner having a plurality ofpliers for gripping the reels or cops and the yarn winding up spools,said pliers being carried by a plier-carrying bar, vertically andhorizontally movable supported between one bottom position thereofadjacent a conveyor belt for feeding the spools and unloading the cops,and at least one top position relative to the spindle-carrying frame ofsaid spinner, wherein a provision is made for moving saidpliers-carrying bar to a top position with said pliers arranged at aclosest location as possible to the bottom end of said cops; clampingthe pliers by gripping the cops at the bottom end thereof firmlypressing the last coils of wound up yarn; lifting the cops by a distancesufficient to tear the thread within the length between the grippinglocation for one pliers on the cop and a thread supply previously woundup on the spindle underlying the spool; and finally doffing the cop fromthe spindle and replacing it with a spool.
 2. A method for automatic copdoffing in a spinner as claimed in claim 1, wherein following the threadbreak step, it is further provided to again lower the cop, threading iton the associated spindle, to loosen the pliers grip lifting it by anupward movement of the pliers-carrying bar; to grip the cop at alocation overlying the former, and then unthread the cop from thespindle for carrying out the subsequent doffing operations, replacingthe cops with the spools.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein useis made of a pneumatic type of pliers.
 4. A method as claimed in claim1, wherein use is made of a mechanical type of pliers.
 5. A method asclaimed in claim 2, wherein following the yarn break of each cop carriedby a pliers of the movable bar, it is provided to lower thepliers-carrying bar to thread again the cops on the associated spindlesby gripping the same at an overlying location, further comprising thesteps of unthreading the cops from the spindles by a further liftingmovement of the pliers-carrying bar, outwardly laterally moving it andthen lowering it to its bottom position with the pliers for the spoolsin alignment therewith, clamping said spools carried by said conveyor,and the moving said pliers-carrying bar in opposite direction to thefirst direction by a composite movement for the articulated framework ofits supporting structure to carry the spools upward as available on thespinner spindles, and lower down again said pliers-carrying bar stillholding the cops to arrange the latter on said conveyor; the cops beinGthen carried to an end unloading position of the spinner.